Show ARMY CANTEEN Editor Tribune The Aosoclatod Press dlupntchoa have been lately giving to tho country considerable matter hostile to the nnllcanleon law enacted by Congress a couplo of years ago Thcuo dispatches are misleading and apparently irn so In londcd The objfct seems to bo to change tho public Bcntlmont regarding the law and thus by rcllex action to operate upon up-on Congressmen The act of ConIc referred re-ferred to did away with the saloon department de-partment of tho army cantcon Tho din patchea especially those sent out from Waahlngton presanl those reports of of flcors which favor till repeal of this anti canteen law I notice that Joule public Journals accept the opinions of the officers offi-cers but dliirogard the figures l Tho latter do not always onpport the formcr When tho anilcanteen law was paaaud It was voll undnratood that Secretary of War foot and also AdJlGon Crfrbln I bc Jlive ho li AdjutantGeneral were hostile hos-tile to It and aa It wiis publicly reported both of them declared Unit the statlstlcn which they would have furnished thereafter there-after would ahow the low to bo a mistake and a allure Tho statistics gathered a year ago however did not show anything of that kind and Secretary Root said In bin report al that time baaed upon tho reports sent In by officers of the army that tho law had not had time to be thoroughly thor-oughly tested and conoequcntly the matter mat-ter wont over Another year of gathering gather-ing statistics has puasfcu and It ocoms that Secretary Root thinks that they show that thn law should be repealed ThA llguroa however presented In them reports do not as a whole uutaln thin view 1 say aa n whole for there Is ono respect III which the figures seem to support the official opinion That ono respect is in regard to tho Increase of miner offonss ror their reports nhow that tho arrests for these offenses have Inert aacd That can easily however bo accounted for If a commiindcr of a post who Is hostile to the anticanteen law and desires statistics to show Its failure hr IjieKlns his worlc by having the private soldiers arrested for a groat number of minor offenses trivial Infractions of the rulMJ most of which offenses prior to the enactment of the anticanteen law were not Kenerallj noticed By this method the increase In tho number of arrests coulld easily bo made but It Is not Just to h I lamo the Increase upon the antican teen law It must be kept In mind that whll cs the saloon was allowed In tho army sorrto f officers according to general reports re-ports at that LImo were pecuniarily inter oatciJ In them and their exclusion from the turn therefore deprived these officers of tl lelr profits Aulde from the minor of rem m referred to the figures furnished In tlll various reports show thot even In the Philippines there was a decrease in the number of desertions under tho anti cano cen law I They show also that dis ease i in the army have decreased under f thlsl aw notwithstanding the wordpaint log q f some of the officers who desire a I rcdloj atlon of the canteen to the army The j figures also show that Insanity has IJccro used and that admissions to the itoapl ala have also decreased < They like vTlac show that alcoholism has also oCr o-cr i5 d Nono of these matters arc un dir tl 1 e control of the officers except that in Jcc ard to arrests as above staled The llgUrq 3 as a whole therefore show that In1 In w has done good work In the army as st4 th a law does everywhere But I havi not noticed that any of these report re-port It as sent out toll no of tho great In crea 50 of the soldiers deposits In savings depo Jl merits or Institutions They do not tell i J3 of the number of young men saved fron I ruin by tho removal of tho saloon rca the army The caloon was abolished from I he navy by Secretary Long without with-out any law to compel him Secretary Root i however objects to the removal of the c anlecn from the army The action of Si Icrotary Long has shown good re suits In the navy Why should not tho remo al of tho canteen from the army also t how good results If I the officers In hood faith carry out the law Lieut Gen S lllcs Is opposed to the canteen and In fav 9r of the anticanteen law and many I thcr loading officers of the army staml v tlth Gen Miles The canteen without with-out tho saloon Is an excellent thing In the army f br M icn tho saloon Is not there It becor tics a placo for the beat men to resort fc r social Intercourse for gymnas tic exerc Uses for reading writing etc I Hhou VI Kindly give ninny facts and figures 01 > this question bul tho condition of my e 7M1 > prevents It at present be lildes It v auld probably take moro space than r sh ould clnlm for such a purpose In your p liner My object In writing Is simply to call the attention of tho public to the fact that this aiUIcantcon ques tion has IWO sides to It and that tho better aldo fins not been presented by tho reports sentout from Washington I JACOB S BOREMAN Ogden Utah |